What is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)?

The purpose of the JLPT is to evaluate and certify Japanese language proficiency of non-native speakers. It is the largest scale test for Japanese in the world and used by many companies and universities to assess the Japanese language skills of applicants.

There are 5 levels for the JLPT. Level 5 is the entry level and Level 1 is the highest level of proficiency. Test is designed to assess the reading and writing skills of applicants and also requires knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
Unfortunately the Japan Foundation does not publish lists of vocabulary, grammar and characters required for each level. The only way to provide lists as on this page is to analyze the material from the published tests with a more or less high accuracy.

It is organized by the Japan Foundation and tests are held regularly in Japan as well as many countries and cities outside Japan.

This table shows the requirements for kanji and vocabulary by proficiency level:

Thanks for the nice feedback. I hope I can help to improve your score on the JLPT.

I have a long list of things I want to add and I receive many good ideas from the readers too. Tutorials are on the road map but they will be added much later. I first want to have all basics on the blog (vocabulary, kanji, radicals, grammar – all for JLPT N5) before I do it. It then becomes easy to provide cross references. I guess it will take another two or three months until I start the first tutorial on JLPT N5.

My brother and I are doing the Rosetta Stone course, and even though the course has been quite good, it lacks explanitory lessons. So my search for a definitive meaning of some of Japans particles led me to this site. Lo and behold you have them listed , Sugoi 🙂